(Forwarded on behalf of the organisers -- all queries/correspondence to Adrian Allan, <[log in to unmask]>, please.)

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WAR AND PEACE
Conference on the life and work of Professor Sir Joseph Rotblat, FRS,
Nobel Peace Laureate

Liverpool Medical Institution, 114 Mount Pleasant, Liverpool 
Friday, 20 October 2006

On October 20 the historic Liverpool Medical Institution will host War and Peace: A one-day conference on the life and work of Sir Joseph Rotblat, organised jointly by Liverpool Medical History Society and the University's Department of Physics. Rotblat came to Liverpool from Poland in 1939, attracted by the fame of Professor James Chadwick and the potential of the newly-built cyclotron. He stayed for more than ten years during which time he worked extensively on nuclear physics, before joining the Manhattan Project in 1943. He was the only physicist to leave the project on conscience grounds and, after the war, helped to found the Pugwash Conferences, which led to his receiving the Nobel Prize for Peace, a rare honour for a physicist. At the same time, he moved into the newly-developing field of medical physics, which he continued with great distinction at St Bartholomew's Hospital. Although he left Liverpool in 1950, he returned on many occasions, the last time in 2003, when, as many of us recall, he gave a brilliant lecture at the age of 95. The conference will bring together speakers who will recall his contributions in nuclear physics, medical physics, and the movement for the abolition of war. There will also be an exhibition of photographs and other material, together with video and sound recordings. Delegates will be presented with a hardback book containing all the speakers' contributions plus much additional material. Details and application forms are available from Adrian Allan (Sydney Jones Library, University of Liverpool, PO Box 123, Liverpool, L69 3DA; tel. 0151 794 2093 ; email: [log in to unmask]).

PROGRAMME

 9.30 am     Registration and refreshments

10.00 am     Welcome and  Introduction

             Pro-Vice-Chancellor Professor Jon Saunders (University of Liverpool), and Professor Michael Bone  (Chairman, Liverpool Medical History Society)

             Chairman of the Morning Session : Professor John Dainton, FRS (Sir James Chadwick Professor of Experimental Physics, University of Liverpool, and Director of the Cockcroft Institute of Accelerator Science and Technology, Daresbury Laboratory, Warrington)


Mrs Diana Preston    
Before the Fall -Out  - Joseph Rotblat, James Chadwick and the Road to  Los Alamos 
                                              
                       Mrs Sally Milne  
                       Working with a Visionary Thinker

11.15  am       	COFFEE / TEA

11. 45 am       	Dr John Curry  
Sir Joseph before and after the Bomb
                                            
                       	Mr Bryce Halliday   
Professor Rotblat and the Atom Train

12.45 pm       	LUNCH

1.45 pm 	Chairman of the first part of the Afternoon Session :  Professor Peter Williams, Director of Physics, Christie Hospital NHS Trust, Withington, Manchester,  who will deliver an initial short introduction  on the development of medical physics.  


Two speakers :-
		Dr Philip Mayles
Radiation : Cause of Cancer or Cancer Cure

A further speaker (to be announced)

3.00 pm 	COFFEE / TEA

Chairman of the last Session :   Professor Michael Bone

3.30 pm  	Dr Jack Harris, MBE ,FRS, FRAEng
                        Sir Joseph Rotblat and the Pugwash Organisation

		Bruce Kent
                        Sir Joseph Rotblat : From Nuclear Disarmament to the Abolition of War

4.30  pm 	Simon Coleman 
                        The Archival Record of a Unique Scientist : Making it Accessible to the World 

5.00 pm  	Close of the conference 



Film and sound recordings of Sir Joseph Rotblat 
During the lunch break and coffee / tea breaks, an opportunity will be provided for delegates to view extracts from film of Sir Joseph Rotblat and to listen to extracts from recordings he made, and also to view a small exhibition of photographs and records relating to Sir Joseph.

Conference volume
At the time of registration, conference delegates will be given a copy of a quality, hard back volume. Besides texts of papers delivered at the conference, the volume will include contributions from those who knew and worked with Sir Joseph or have researched his life and career.
Those who might wish to submit their recollections of  Sir Joseph for possible inclusion in the conference volume are asked to contact Adrian Allan (Sydney Jones Library, University of Liverpool, PO Box 123, Liverpool, L69 3DA; tel. 0151 794 2093 ; email : [log in to unmask]) not later than 31 July.


Notes on the speakers

Mrs Diana Preston is the author of Before the Fallout, From Marie Curie to Hiroshima   (Doubleday and Corgi, 2005). She studied Modern History at the University of Oxford.

Mrs Sally Milne graduated BA with Honours in History from the University of Exeter. She is Executive Secretary to the London Office of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs. Mrs Milne was Personal Assistant to Sir Joseph Rotblat.

Dr John Curry graduated BSc with Honours in Physics in 1941 and PhD in Nuclear Physics in 1949 at the University of Liverpool. After war service, 1941 - 45, Dr Curry was a DSIR-funded member of the University's staff, teaching and researching proton energy spread under Sir James Chadwick, 1946 - 48, before joining BICC as Telecommunications Research Manager in 1949.

Mr Bryce Halliday served as Technical Assistant for the 'Atom Train' project in the Department of Physics, University of Liverpool.

Professor Peter Williams is Director of Physics at the Christie Hospital,  Withington, Manchester. He has been involved in an updating of the history of the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine and its antecedents. He chaired the Wellcome History of Medicine witness statement meeting on medical physics held last year. 

Dr Philip Mayles is Head of Physics, Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology, Bebington, Wirral. He trained as a medical physicist under Sir Joseph Rotblat at St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College.

Dr Jack Harris is Deputy Chairman of British Pugwash and  Editor Emeritus of  Interdisciplinary Science Reviews. He worked for 35 years in the civil nuclear industry and for his studies of nuclear fuel performance was awarded the Esso Gold Medal for Energy Conservation by the Royal Society.  

Bruce Kent was Catholic Chaplain to the University of London, 1966 - 74; Secretary and then Chairman of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, 1980 - 90, and now Vice-President ; President of the International Peace Bureau, 1985 - 92; and Co-founder with Sir Joseph Rotblat  in 2001 of the Movement for the Abolition of War.  

Simon Coleman (The National Cataloguing Unit for the Archives of Contemporary Scientists) is cataloguing the archives of Sir Joseph Rotblat for the Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge.
 
Sponsorship

Liverpool Medical History Society and the Department of Physics gratefully acknowledge the generous grant in support of the conference made by The Friends of the University of Liverpool.